Wind power generation apparatus

ABSTRACT

A wind power generation apparatus includes a wind collecting hood, a rotary shaft, a rotary structure and a wind guiding structure. The wind collecting hood is a hollow circular barrel to form an airflow passage. The rotary shaft is located in the airflow passage of the wind collecting hood. The rotary structure is mounted onto the rotary shaft. The wind guiding structure is fastened to the wind collecting hood and located at the front end of the rotary structure. The wind guiding structure directs direction of airflow and accelerates the airflow to become swirling airflow to directly blow the rotary structure at optimal angles, thus capability of driving the rotary structure to rotate by wind is increased and starting wind power of the rotary structure is reduced. The rotary structure is still rotated at where the wind is smaller to provide electric power.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a wind power generation apparatus andparticularly to a wind power generation apparatus operated with smallstarting wind power.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Wind power generation is the purest natural renewable power source,hence is widely accepted by environmental activists. Many types of windpower generation techniques have been proposed in prior art, such asR.O.C. patent Nos. M296920 entitled “Thermal wind power generationapparatus”, M307718 entitled “Vehicle wind power generation apparatus”,M326072 entitled “Self-assembly wind power generation wall”, M329580entitled “Flow guiding structure to reduce wind resistance” and thelike. They all generate electric power through wind power. As they donot produce pollution and are installed at lower costs, thus are wellreceived by people.

All the aforesaid wind power generation apparatus drive blades to rotatevia kinetic energy of wind, and then the blades drive a power generatorto spin to generate electric power. In order to drive the blades torotate, wind must reach to a certain degree of strength that isgenerally called starting wind power. One of most baffling problemsencountered by the conventional wind power generation apparatus is thatwind generated in most residential areas and environments cannotmaintain at a power greater than that of the starting wind for a longduration. As a result, the wind power generation apparatus becomesuseless or generates only negligible amount of electric power. Thisgreatly reduces application scope of the wind power generation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the primary object of the present invention is to provide awind power generation apparatus operated with small starting wind powerto increase installation possibility and applicability.

To achieve the foregoing object, the present invention provides a windpower generation apparatus that includes a wind collecting hood, arotary shaft, a rotary structure and a wind guiding structure. The windcollecting hood is a hollow circular barrel to form an airflow passage.The rotary shaft is located in the airflow passage of the windcollecting hood. The rotary structure includes a plurality of airflowreceiving blades mounted on the rotary shaft in a spread fashion. Thewind guiding structure includes a plurality of airflow guiding vanesarranged in a spread manner and abutting the front end of the rotarystructure. The airflow guiding vanes are fastened to the wind collectinghood.

By means of the construction set forth above, the present inventionprovides many advantages, such as the wind guiding structure can directdirection of airflow which enters from the airflow passage andaccelerate the airflow to form swirling airflow to directly blow therotary structure at optimal angles and drive the rotary structure torotate. Hence the rotary structure still can be driven by smaller windto rotate. As a result, the starting wind power is smaller, efficiencyand the amount of wind power generation increase, and application scopeof the wind power generation also increases.

The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages ofthe invention will be more readily apparent from the followingembodiments and detailed description, which proceed with reference tothe accompanying drawings. The embodiments serve merely for illustrativepurpose and are not the limitations of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of airflow guiding of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of another structure of airflow receivingblades of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer to FIGS. 1 and 2, the present invention aims to provide awind power generation apparatus that includes a wind collecting hood 10,a rotary shaft 20, a rotary structure 30 and a wind guiding structure40. The wind collecting hood 10 is a hollow circular barrel to form anairflow passage 11, and includes two ends respectively formed at adiameter gradually shrunk towards the center of the wind collecting toform a neck portion 12.

The wind collecting hood 10 can be mounted onto an upright post 50 whichincludes a rotary portion 51 and a holding portion 52 bridged by arotary bearing 53 so that the rotary portion 51 can rotate against theholding portion 52.

The rotary shaft 20 drives a power generator (not shown in the drawings)held in the airflow passage 11 of the wind collecting hood 10. Therotary structure 30 includes a plurality of airflow receiving blades 31mounted on the rotary shaft 20 in a spread fashion. The wind guidingstructure 40 includes a plurality of airflow guiding vanes 41 arrangedin a spread manner and abutting the front end of the rotary structure30. The wind collecting hood 10 has a plurality of latch grooves 13wedged by the airflow guiding vanes 41 to form secured positioning tothe wind collecting hood 10. The rotary shaft 20 has one end coupled tothe wind guiding structure 40.

Also referring to FIG. 3, each airflow guiding vane 41 has a firstinward curved surface 411 and a first outward curved surface 412opposite to the first inward curved surface 411 to form a rotatingcurvature. After the airflow 60 is dispersed, the first inward curvedsurface 411 receives the airflow 60 and changes the direction of theairflow 60 to become swirling airflow 61. It is to be noted that theairflow guiding vane 41 has a greater thickness in the windwarddirection than the leeward direction so that the airflow guiding vane 41can withstand greater strength when receiving wind pressure.

Each airflow receiving blade 31 also has a second inward curved surface311 and a second outward curved surface 312 opposite to the secondinward curved surface 311 to form an inverse rotating curvature. Thesecond inward curved surface 311 receives the swirling airflow 61.Similarly, the airflow receiving blade 31 also has a greater thicknessin the windward direction than the leeward direction so that the airflowreceiving blade 31 also can withstand greater strength when receivingthe swirling airflow 61.

Please refer to FIG. 4 for another embodiment of the airflow receivingblades 31. The rotary structure 30 further has a driven ring 32connected to the airflow receiving blades 31 at positions remote fromthe center thereof. The driven ring 32 is formed at a desired thicknessto increase mechanical rotating efficiency of the airflow receivingblades 31 when receiving the swirling airflow.

By means of the structure set forth above, the airflow 60 passingthrough the airflow passage 11 is directed by the airflow guiding vanes41 to become the swirling airflow 61 to directly blow the airflowreceiving blades 31 at optimal angles to rotate. Thus the rotarystructure 30 still can be driven to rotate even at smaller wind inputand is operated at small starting wind power. As a result, the windpower generation apparatus of the invention can be widely installed atvarying sites to provide steady and continuous power.

In short, the invention directs the airflow 60 in desired directions andaccelerates wind speed to form the swirling airflow 61 to directly blowthe airflow receiving blades 31 at the optimal angles to rotate. Hencethe starting wind power can be reduced, efficiency and the amount ofwind power generation can be increased, and application scope of thewind power generation also can be increased.

1. A wind power generation apparatus, comprising: a wind collecting hood which is a hollow circular barrel to form an airflow passage; a rotary shaft located in the airflow passage of the wind collecting hood; a rotary structure including a plurality of airflow receiving blades mounted on the rotary shaft in a spread fashion; and a wind guiding structure including a plurality of airflow guiding vanes arranged in a spread manner and abutting a front end of the rotary structure, the airflow guiding vanes being fastened to the wind collecting hood.
 2. The wind power generation apparatus of claim 1, wherein the rotary shaft includes one end coupled to the wind guiding structure.
 3. The wind power generation apparatus of claim 1, wherein each airflow guiding vane includes a first inward curved surface and a first outward curved surface opposite to the first inward curved surface to form a rotating curvature; each airflow receiving blade including a second inward curved surface and a second outward curved surface opposite to the second inward curved surface to form an inverse rotating curvature.
 4. The wind power generation apparatus of claim 3, wherein each airflow guiding vane is formed at a greater thickness in a windward direction than a leeward direction.
 5. The wind power generation apparatus of claim 3, wherein each airflow receiving blade is formed at a greater thickness in a windward direction than a leeward direction.
 6. The wind power generation apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wind collecting hood includes a plurality of latch grooves wedged by the airflow guiding vanes to form fastening therewith.
 7. The wind power generation apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wind collecting hood includes two ends respectively formed at a diameter gradually shrunk towards a center of the wind collecting hood to form a neck portion.
 8. The wind power generation apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wind collecting hood is mounted onto an upright post.
 9. The wind power generation apparatus of claim 8, wherein the upright post includes a rotary portion and a holding portion bridged by a rotary bearing to form rotary coupling therewith.
 10. The wind power generation apparatus of claim 1, wherein the rotary structure further includes a driven ring connected to the airflow receiving blades at positions remote from the center thereof. 